Thai media investigates trouble in Koh Samet - foreign tourists ripped off, operators hit with charges - claims of parks' dept bribery

[josephbloggs]

3 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Not been to Koh Samet for over 20 years, but before then always took a speed boat direct to my pre-booked hotel and never paid any entry fee!????

Yes, I used to do the same. But now you can't do that anymore.

[ThailandGuy]

It never stops... everything is normal again?  The same happens outside Thailand. So what is new?

[herfiehandbag]

3 hours ago, Mywayboy said:

I Rest my case your Honour. 

Guilty as charged take them down.

Only if the accused hasn't come to "an arrangement"...

[RichardColeman]

Sounds no different to me than the government stealing 300 baht from every tourist soon - i so hope the world airports start charging ALL thais 300 baht too

[rwill]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Foreign tourists were also being fleeced in a new scam.

 

They had already paid to enter the National Park but they were now being asked to pay 100 baht "extra" to go on diving trips to Koh Ku Dee, Koh Thalu and Koh Panteen.

So does paying the park entrance fee normally include free diving trips to other islands?  That seems like something I would expect to pay extra for.

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, rwill said:

So does paying the park entrance fee normally include free diving trips to other islands?  That seems like something I would expect to pay extra for.

The article is poorly written, it means the tourists were charged 100 baht extra for the entrance into effectively the same national park….    

[Mavideol]

this guy is looking for a publicity stunt..... there is NO corruption in Thailand, there is NO prostitution in Thailand and to prove it look at the Pattaya RTP investigation, no sex workers found

 

 

P.S= sarcasm at it's best  555

[crazykopite]

Corruption is rife in all of a Thailand foreigners constantly get ripped off from the moment they step off the aircraft until the moment they get the flight back home and the Thais from the government down think it’s okay that this should happen after all it’s only foreigners let’s rip them off 

[Thingamabob]

Every country in the world does all it can to make money out of tourists.

 

In this case, in Thailand, they are being asked to pay 100 baht extra. 

 

Wow ! Who can possibly afford such a huge sum ?

 

My suggestion ? Don't ever leave your own country in the first place.

 

Utterly pathetic.

 

 

 

[herfiehandbag]

2 hours ago, nchuckle said:

Locals (as in those living and proving so in the locality) getting a dispensation is one thing ,but effectively,as here ,simply being judged by the colour of your face at the kiosk (even if a farang living locally) is altogether quite different. If you simply look like a Thai ,even if living abroad, like my stepdaughter , and enjoying the discount is really nothing short of racism.

My daughter (17) is Thai. Born here, at school here, Thai is her first language. We get it all the time. When she caught COVID they tried to charge many (10K+) thousands for treatment; even the school she is at denied the two discounts due ( one because I was a teacher there, and a second one because she is RC in a RC school) on the grounds that she was "farang". That last was the school administrators - when I complained to the clergy they were most embarrassed and gave her a free place for her last two years. The army refused to have her in the school cadets when she wanted to join because she was white ( can't say I was too upset about that one). She loves (and is very good at) singing and classical Thai dancing, but a couple of years ago they wouldn't let her compete in the team for the regional competition; the school said she was "inappropriate". I was furious and insisted she was allowed to compete, and she has won prizes for the last three years!

 

She copes really well with it - but I know sometimes it irritates her, it did spark some rebellious behaviour in her early teens. The school called me to a meeting about her. The main complaint was that she didn't respect some of the teachers - hardly surprising when they treated her differently to the other children. It was a bit of of a " light the blue touchpaper and stand well back moment", especially when some old fascist bat made her dye her lovely auburn hair black! That cost me a lot of money at a very expensive hairdressers to sort out! Interestingly that old bat retired two years ago, and Lucy's behaviour improved immediately!

 

This sort of low level racism, particularly evident from those with a modicum of power, is , for me, the black cloud on the  otherwise largely untroubled horizon of living here.

[Dazkkk]

Sack the lot and put the rest on night shift. 
 

There has always been corruption in Thailand, it is what foreigners expect to see and experience, along with the temples, culture and stomach upsets. 
 

????????

 

 

[Jimjim1]

5 hours ago, waders123 said:

TIT   Brown bags are king!  I want some too!  555

What, TIT or brown bags??

[Genericnic]

5 hours ago, dddave said:

Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

I have to call BS on this one. My girlfriend, a Malaysian passport holder, and I hit multiple US national parks on our last two trips there. She was charged the same price as everyone else. No one asks for your passport in the US when going to national parks or basically anywhere else. 

 

David

[kaneko86]

7 hours ago, dddave said:

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

Yes that right... funnily I know only my town where tourists have privilege over locals. For example the public busses are free for tourists. Locals have to pay 3 € a day.

[ross163103]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

It is nothing new in Thailand.

 

This is the key phrase in the article. Maybe they need to add on the end of that; "and will continue forever'.

[couchpotato]

18 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

My daughter (17) is Thai. Born here, at school here, Thai is her first language. We get it all the time. When she caught COVID they tried to charge many (10K+) thousands for treatment; even the school she is at denied the two discounts due ( one because I was a teacher there, and a second one because she is RC in a RC school) on the grounds that she was "farang". That last was the school administrators - when I complained to the clergy they were most embarrassed and gave her a free place for her last two years. The army refused to have her in the school cadets when she wanted to join because she was white ( can't say I was too upset about that one). She loves (and is very good at) singing and classical Thai dancing, but a couple of years ago they wouldn't let her compete in the team for the regional competition; the school said she was "inappropriate". I was furious and insisted she was allowed to compete, and she has won prizes for the last three years!

 

She copes really well with it - but I know sometimes it irritates her, it did spark some rebellious behaviour in her early teens. The school called me to a meeting about her. The main complaint was that she didn't respect some of the teachers - hardly surprising when they treated her differently to the other children. It was a bit of of a " light the blue touchpaper and stand well back moment", especially when some old fascist bat made her dye her lovely auburn hair black! That cost me a lot of money at a very expensive hairdressers to sort out! Interestingly that old bat retired two years ago, and Lucy's behaviour improved immediately!

 

This sort of low level racism, particularly evident from those with a modicum of power, is , for me, the black cloud on the  otherwise largely untroubled horizon of living here.

Ex <deleted> actly.

[Billy Bloggs]

I would pay dual pricing( I dont at present because I dont visit anywhere thathas it), if I could claim back all the vat tax I pay each year.

[mrfill]

17 hours ago, sabai-dee-man said:

The difference is, they don't hide it.

I'm a Brit, who worked in Florida for a while back in my early 20s, and I was easily able to get a Florida ID card (based on my passport details -- yes, I understand other states/now might be different) that I could then use for "touristy places" and even many night clubs, and they would give me local pricing. Previously, when just holidaying there, it was clear that locals could buy passes to most of the attractions like Disney/Wet'n'Wild/Universal etc., for discounted entry. The irony is that back then, locals were even selling discount "tickets" to tourists to use to get into many places cheaper, that were basically just unused tabs torn from full-price tickets they'd snapped up (or possibly obtained from someone working at the attractions).

And don't give me "yeah, but in America it's all in English and and you're a native English speaker", because other than hidden entry fees, when do you EVER see Thai prices written with Thai characters rather than Arabic numerals?! Even in deepest Issan where English menus often don't exist, prices are shown as "฿40/50" etc.

Ayutthaya......

[Hanuman2547]

15 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

My daughter (17) is Thai. Born here, at school here, Thai is her first language. We get it all the time. When she caught COVID they tried to charge many (10K+) thousands for treatment; even the school she is at denied the two discounts due ( one because I was a teacher there, and a second one because she is RC in a RC school) on the grounds that she was "farang". That last was the school administrators - when I complained to the clergy they were most embarrassed and gave her a free place for her last two years. The army refused to have her in the school cadets when she wanted to join because she was white ( can't say I was too upset about that one). She loves (and is very good at) singing and classical Thai dancing, but a couple of years ago they wouldn't let her compete in the team for the regional competition; the school said she was "inappropriate". I was furious and insisted she was allowed to compete, and she has won prizes for the last three years!

 

She copes really well with it - but I know sometimes it irritates her, it did spark some rebellious behaviour in her early teens. The school called me to a meeting about her. The main complaint was that she didn't respect some of the teachers - hardly surprising when they treated her differently to the other children. It was a bit of of a " light the blue touchpaper and stand well back moment", especially when some old fascist bat made her dye her lovely auburn hair black! That cost me a lot of money at a very expensive hairdressers to sort out! Interestingly that old bat retired two years ago, and Lucy's behaviour improved immediately!

 

This sort of low level racism, particularly evident from those with a modicum of power, is , for me, the black cloud on the  otherwise largely untroubled horizon of living here.

I can relate to this as both of my luk krung boys had very black hair with just a touch of dark brown mixed in.  School officials accused them of putting in highlights to their hair (which was common among Thai pop stars and others at the time) to accent it.  My boys explained that they did not add highlights to their hair and it was their natural colour.  They did explain that they had a farang father and could ask him or their Thai mum.  I'm not sure if the school did either but they never contacted me and my boys didn't have to dye their hair to look black.  

[Hanuman2547]

20 hours ago, dddave said:

Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

This is blatantly false.  There is no entrance fee charged based upon citizenship.  The US does not have a national ID card so it is impossible to ask for a document that no one has.  Not everyone in the US has a passport so that is not an option.  Generally you just drive into a National Park and pay the fee at the gate similar to a toll booth on the expressways in Thailand.  They only charge the vehicle not the occupants inside.  

[owl sees all]

21 hours ago, stoner said:

went on a boat tour to phi phi last week. included maya bay and monkey island.

 

they had people out on a deserted beach staring at the rocks looking for monkeys. 

 

 

 

Have to watch those monkeys.

 

Some are trained to grab yer wallet and credit cards. They often have sick cousins. I know one that keeps buffaloes.

 

[maxcorrigan]

18 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

On a similar subject, I read on Asean Now last year that national parks had reduced the admission fees for foreigners to 200 baht.

 

On New Year's day, faced with very heavy traffic on Mitraphap on a trip to Bangkok, my friend and I decided to go a different way, passing through Khao Yai National Park - my friend told me it was free for New Year.

 

It was free - for her but it wasn't the 200 baht for me that I was expecting. The fee for foreigners to enter Khao Yai National Park is still 400 baht.

 

I've refused to pay 10 times the amount that Thai's are charged since they enforced it for local foreigners a few years back but it was my friend (Thai) who told them to stick it this time and u-turned!

10 times the price or 1000% to put it in it's true perspective!

[Hanaguma]

20 hours ago, dddave said:

The sad truth is, most countries charge tourist more than locals.  If you travel in the USA, even if a citizen, cross a state line and visit a state park, you will pay higher entrance and usage fees than locals will.  Go to any public beach and locals will have parking stickers allowing them to park for far less.  Go to almost any museum or public attraction in the US or Europe, locals pay less than outsiders.  Even US National Parks charge Non-citizens higher fees.

You sure about that?  I visit the National Parks regularly and pay the same as everyone else (not American). Got a yearly pass to ALL NPS locations for just $80- a real bargain.  If you are a senior then residency matters- the price drops to $20 a year or $80 for a lifetime pass. 

[fulhamster]

21 hours ago, DjSilver said:

I have always said this since I moved to Thailand 5 years ago "Racist"

They all look the same

[FriendlyFarang]

20 hours ago, prakhonchai nick said:

Had an altercation with the ticket seller at Nong Nooch many years ago. Insisted I paid the full price despite holding Permanent residence. Complained at the office later, was ushered into see the Thanphuying boss, apologised to, received an invitation to a Loy Kratong party for myself and family, and the unfortunate ticket seller was  hauled in and dismissed on the spot!  ????

I doubt that’s what happened, the official rules are clear, a price for Thais, and a price for foreigners, doesn’t matter which permit to stay in Thailand the foreigner is holding. So the ticket seller was just acting in accordance with the rules.

[FriendlyFarang]

19 hours ago, nchuckle said:

See my post below. None of that concession is based on race ,as it is here.

In Thailand it’s also not based on race.

[jeffriesbkk]

Everything goes back to normal very quickly. The complaints re. Thailand will dominate once again in the global tourism industry. Nothing will ever change here.

[Chongalulu]

19 minutes ago, FriendlyFarang said:

In Thailand it’s also not based on race.

Well then ,are you saying Thai is not a race ??? Because that’s the only criteria applied for the cheaper price. ???? 

[FriendlyFarang]

1 hour ago, nchuckle said:

Well then ,are you saying Thai is not a race ??? Because that’s the only criteria applied for the cheaper price. ???? 

Yes, Thai is not a race, it’s a nationality.

Do you think “French” is a race?

[still kicking]

On 1/16/2023 at 3:10 PM, dddave said:

What nation?

I don't know his nation, but I am from OZ and we don't have different prices for Aussies and tourists